Strand treating apparatus



Dec. 30, 1941. R. 1.. FEARN STRAND TREATING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 19, 1939 v INVENTOR. Richard L. Fear'n A ()RNEYS Patented Dec. 30, 1941 UNITED STATES VPATEN T orrlc'a a claims. (or. 266 -3) The general object of this invention is the provision of a simplified. mechanism by means of which a heated strand, particularly a wire The entering end of the glass chamber has a conical aperture which continues into a cylinstrand, may be subjected to a chemically active vapor. 1

Other and more detailed objects of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of one embodiment thereof.

This invention resides substantially in the combination, construction, arrangement, relative location of parts, all as will be explained in detail below.

The single figure of the drawing is a ver-- tical, central, longitudinal, cross-sectional view through the wire treating device of this invention showing portions of associated mechanism with which this invention is not concerned.

As will be seen from the drawing, the strand W passes through an aperture in a plate 5i upon which aperture is played a flame from a small burner 52. This burner is supplied with a gaseous fuel mixture in any suitable manner not shown. The plate Si is very important, in that it is a masslveblock of metal arranged sothat its temperature, notwithstanding the fact that the flame 52 plays thereon, remain low. By reason of the fact that the plate is relatively massive, and is arranged so as to lose heat readily, it remains at a relatively low temperature notwithstanding the fact that the flame 52 plays thereon. Preferably, in the case of copper strands this block or plate 5! should be made of steel. In the case of brass strand it is preferably made of chrome iron or chrome steel. The flame blowing on this relatively cold plate produces hydrogen and water vapor. The strand W after being heated in a ncnoxidizing atmosphere, passes directly from the zone of heating (not shown) into and through the aperture in plate 5|.

This arrangement has the advantage of excluding air and oxidizing atmospheres from the wire by flooding the aperture in the plate 5| with the products of combustion, which as indicated in the drawing, are introduced into the chlorinating chamber 50. The introduction of these gases is facilitated in a manner about to be described.

The strand W passes through a pair of guide extensions 54 on the lower end of a thermocouple support 53 which forms no part of this invention.

The wire then passes into an inner chamber ii in the casing which is shown as made of drical portion and the discharge end has a cylindrical aperture of a conical portion, both of which apertures are large enough so that the wire passes freely therethrough. At 62 is a ch10- rine supply pipe extending from any suitable source of dry, pure chlorine gas. This pipe opens into the inner chamber 6|. Mounted on top of the casing 50 within a housing 64 is a tube 63, the lower end of which is open to the interior chamber GI, and the upper end of which opens to the atmosphere. Surrounding the tube is a heater 65 which is illustrated as an electric heater having the current supply leads 66. A similar arrangement comprising a tube 6'! is open at its lower end to the casing 50 and at its upper end to the atmosphere. It is enclosed within a housing 68 which contains an electric heater 69 provided with the current supply lead Ill. These devices operate to maintain a slightly sub-atmospheric pressure condition-within the chambers 50 and iii. The heaters cause convection currents which result in the slow removal of vapors from the respective chambers through the upper ends of the tubes 63 and 61, insuring the gases generated in the aperture ofplate 5| will flow into the chambers 50 and 6!. The chlorine gas supplied through the pipe 82 is supplied in rather small quantities at a pressure just sumciently high to insure its introduction into the chamber 6|. 4

The heated strand W which is at a temperature in the neighborhood of 300 degrees Centigrade, in passing'through the chamber BI ,is exposed to the gas which serves to form fluxing salts which facilitate the application of the coating to the strand. In order to facilitate this action, products of combustion from chamber 50 are drawn through end apertures of chamber Si by reason of the reduced pressure caused by suction in tube 63 and mixing with the chlorine gas, greatly intensifying the reactions. A heater II with the current lead 12 acts to maintain the temperature within the chamber 50 in the neighborhood of 212 degrees Fahrenheit, in order to prevent condensation of vapors.

The reference numeral 13 generally indicates the coating apparatus which has been illustrated for the purpose of showing one possible treatment of the wire after fluxing. The details of the coating apparatus form no part of this invention.

From the above description it will be apparglass and supported in any suitable manner. cut to those skilled in the art that many modifications in the details of structure employed carrying out the novel subject matter of this disclosure, may be made a without departing from the novel teaching herein. I do not, therefore, desire to be strictly limited to the disclosure as given for purposes or illustration, but rather to the scope of the claimsgranted me.

What is claimed is:

1. A processing device for treating heated strands moving therethrough in the direction of their lengthincluding a closed chamber having end walls, the end wall at the entering end of the chamber comprising a relatively massive metal plate having an aperture through which the strand moves, and means for playing an open flame on said aperture.

2. A processing device for fluxing heated strands moving therethrough in the direction of their length,'inc1uding a closed chamber having end walls, the end wall at the entering end of the chamber comprising a relatively massive metal plate having an aperture through which the strand moves, means tor playing an open flame on said aperture, means forming an inner compartment within said chamber through which the strand passes, and means for delivering small quantities of chemically active vapor into said compartment.

3. A processing device for treating heated strands moving therethrough'in the direction of their length, including a closed chamber having end walls, the end wall at the entering end or the chamber comprising a metal plate having an aperture through which the strand moves, means for playing an open flame on said aperture, means forming an inner compartment within said chamber through which the strand passes, means for delivering small quantities of an active vapor into said compartment, and

means for slowly withdrawing the vapors from said chamber.

' RICHARD L. FEARN. 

